And Soooo the Adventure comes to an End

It's hard to believe that our eleven week trip is down to its last few days. We've been enjoying the campaign work, although it has been very tiring. The weather has been very pleasant with temperatures in the low to mid 80's. The congregation here has supported the work very well and their territory is almost completed! There have been some good experiences, Doug found a man last week who had been studying but for some reason the brother did not return to continue the study. It could have been that when this new congregation was formed in September that the brother wasn't assigned here and it just didn't get turned over. But anyway he really wanted to continue his study, so arrangements were made to take care of him.

 Who says you need to have snow to go sled riding! These young fellows were using palm leaves for sleds and sliding down a steep concrete sidewalk.

Do you see the bananas off my right shoulder

 We've been preaching in some pretty areas. The day when these were taken, we were working a road that went along the ocean so many of the people we talked to made their living by fishing.

A view from where we were preaching

The man in the yard is repairing one of his fishing nets

Of course we had to buy some fresh fish from the fisherman.  These are called Colorado and we were told they were very good. So we fried them up for lunch and they were indeed very tasty.

Look who followed Doug home from the beach the other morning. He was so weak from lack of food that he could hardly walk. So I gave him some scraps of ham that we had. At first when I would feed him, he would take the food and go hide to eat it, probably afraid that it would be taken from him, I suppose when you're the littlest dog in the bunch, it is hard to survive. Well, as you might of guessed, he hasn't left, he's adopted us as well as one of my other neighbors who I think is feeding him also. He's sleeping at my feet as I write this. I've named him Baby. He's become very friendly and playful.

We are viewing our last week here as a vacation week. We've been to a few different beaches, hiked to a scenic look out, just trying to enjoy the beauty of our surroundings.  On Monday we went with some friends to a beach called El Rincon. You can only get there by driving about 1/2 hour on a rough dirt road or by boat. The brothers had 4 wheel drive so we drove. It is truly one of the most beautiful beaches on the island. Beautiful water, white sand and surrounded by beautiful mountains. 

Waiting for lunch, I hadn't played this game in years

El Rincon - the pictures just don't do it justice!

Karen & Harry from Austria

Wins award for most creative pose

Wins award for Cutest!

So our time in the DR is coming to and end. We're heading over to Cabarete this weekend to meet up with Cory and Jeni and then they'll be taking us to the airport on Tuesday. Our visit to Samana has been everything we hoped it would be. It's been very relaxing and enjoyable being here. Catching up with old friends and making new ones. That is truly one of the beautiful things about Jehovah's organization. The wonderful friends that we have wherever we are. Looking forward to seeing all of friends and family back in PA, Please order up some nice springtime weather for us! 

Send in the Clouds

Sunrise from the balcony

 So we enjoyed our weekend of house sitting, here are a few pictures of the house and one from the balcony. It was a very hot and sunny couple of days.

dining room and kitchen

These 6 need-greater kids are from 5-11 years old.

 

This young couple from Virginia were just visiting for a few weeks. They asked me where we were from and then Bailey (the young woman) told me she was born in State College and still has family in the area. Her cousin, Elise, just married a brother from the area. So I asked his name.... Ryan Spigelmyer,  Well, I happen to know a few Spigelmyers,  what a small world in Jehovah's Organization.

 Monday morning we went over to the Radimersky house to head out to the beach together. They had some old friends stop in to say hi. Two of the families spend about six  months of the year here in the country. They are from Virginia and N. Carolina.

The party on the way to the Beach

A Study of Rebekka's (isn't it a cute house)

My new favorite drink, It tasted like eggnog

 We were invited to eat at a German brother's apartment last night. He's here visiting for 2 months, is a widower and is 72 years old. He's living in the same complex as us and made Snitzel for us, it was a breaded chicken breast, very tasty. He also made a potato salad, not quite like we make it in PA, it had cucumbers in it, also very good.  He also invited the Italian couple that live in our complex. So we had an international evening, visiting in Spanish, the second language for all of us. It was  a lot of fun.

 Doug & I took a hike to El Limon this morning.  It is one of the biggest Water Falls in the country. It was about a 50 minute walk and well worth it.  Some locals were there jumping from the cliffs into the water.

This is a smaller water fall a little distance from El Limon, we had this to ourselves for a little while

So we've had an enjoyable few days, and have been especially enjoying a little cloudy cooler weather. After the 100 degree days from last week, we've enjoyed having a few clouds around and low 80's. It's made it especially nicer for the campaign work, walking from 9-12 w/o sitting down is pretty tiring (even the young people were tired) but we're covering a lot of territory. I had a woman yesterday who wanted me to come in and sit down but I told her no, and explained the invitation to her. She then said "but don't you have any magazines for me, I love reading those magazines". I told her that I didn't have the newest ones but I did have some old ones. I pulled out of my bag the two that I had and the front of the WT was on the theme of what to do when you lose your job. She looked at me and said "that's for me, I lost my job 6 months ago!" So she was very happy to receive the magazine. So how is the campaign going in your area? Lots of Auxiliary pioneers?

Another Sunny Week

Our international group

We had a surprise this week at the meeting for field service, this is a small congregation so usually there are small groups out but on Wednesday morning we had a few extra. There were about 8 young people visiting from the States, England, and the one brother in this picture is from Norway. A few of them spoke Spanish but the others didn't so I got assigned with a young sister from England who didn't speak Spanish (well only a few words). So it was a little different being the one who could speak better but Jehovah helped me out by giving me nice householders who I could understand. Towards the end of the morning I had a nice conversation with a young woman and started a Bible study with her using the Good News Brochure. I wasn't going to try to start any studies while we are here since it is such a short time and we have the Memorial Invitation work but I just couldn't help it. She was so nice and eager to learn, so I have an appointment to go back next Wed.

Doug bought a fish for us this week off a local fisherman. I don't know what kind it was but it was a pretty silver color. He fileted it for us, cut the head into two parts (you're not seeing two different heads here)   I put a little seasoning on it and fried it, melted some butter to dip it in and wow was it delicious, the best fish we've had since being here. We're hoping to have opportunity to buy some more off of him. This fish provided three meals for us and cost us about $7.

I went with Rebekka and Lorena on studies and R.V.'s for the afternoon while Doug went with Richard.

Me on our private Yacht (with 50 other people)

 Doug & I took a boat trip over to Bacardi Island (or Cayo Levantado). It's a beautiful little island with a very exclusive resort but you can take day trips to their public beach area.  The sand is very white and the water clear.

They put on a little show with a big sea lion.

That's a live star fish on my hat that Doug found while swimming

On Friday we had the privilege of having the Radimersky kids for the day. This weekend is the two day circuit assembly and Friday was the pioneer meeting for all regular pioneers in the circuit so we volunteered to keep the kids or did they keep us. We started our day off with a hike to a local waterfall and then Lucas showed us where a local beach is to look for cool shells.

Lucas showing us the way

The water was quite chilly so Doug was the only one to brave a dip at the base of the falls.

This is my collection of shells from the day. The little ones were everywhere!  We didn't find any of the really gigantic ones but I'm told that you often can.

Till the hike and beach combing were done both Doug & I were ready for a nap but not the kids! Doug took them to the beach at our place for a little while so I could have a break and then it was my turn while he took a nap. They had brought Uno along so we played that, of course it was the German version called Solo and I'm pretty sure Lucas was making up some of his own rules! Anyway we had a nice day with them. Now while the family is away in the Capital for the Circuit Assembly, we're house sitting and taking care of the dogs for the weekend.

Happy Wedding  Day to Jason & Rose.  CONGRATULATIONS!